


Brighter Than The Olympic Flame

by xLoveMx



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Merlin Olympics, Merthur - Freeform, Modern AU, Olympics, Summer Olympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7740250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He felt like a complete and utter idiot. He loved Merlin, had for the better part of a year, and Arthur Pendragon usually wasn´t someone to admit his feelings that quickly, or at all. What was he so afraid of anyway?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brighter Than The Olympic Flame

**Author's Note:**

> This is my part for the Merlin Olympics! I was originally planning on writing something longer, but I realized it wasn´t going to be finished, so I wrote a small thing instead. (Which also turned out a bit longer than I thought because Arthur suddenly became a big ball of feels but oh well) So enjoy and check out the rest of the submission for the Merlin Olympics! :)

All in all the atmosphere was pretty awesome. Everyone was buzzing with excitement as they slowly moved from the outside of the stadium into the catacombs. They had moved forward quite a lot in the past half hour and Arthur could already hear the audience cheering for every team that made its way out into the stadium.

Everyone around him was laughing, chatting and taking pictures and Arthur found the other athlete´s excitement kind of endearing. Not that he wasn´t excited to compete, but this were his second games and he had gotten visibly calmer. Of course it had been amazing to perform not only in his home country, but also in front of his hometown crowd, but having barely been 18 back then Arthur had been pretty nervous.

These days he was more relaxed and actually excited to compete alongside his team mates and friends. Speaking of which, he had lost his sister Morgana and her best friend Gwen in the crowd somewhere. They were Great Britain´s best beach volleyball duo, with their eyes set on the gold medal, and with how well Arthur knew Morgana he assumed that she wasn´t going to go home with anything less.

Gwen´s boyfriend Lance was somewhere around here too. He was a fencer, the perfect sport for someone like him, or so Arthur thought. He was incredibly polite and romantic, sometimes he seemed like he had come straight from a romance novel set in the 19th century.

Lance always laughed about it, Gwen blushed and Morgana rolled her eyes at him.

Arthur didn´t mind.

He felt an arm wrapping around his shoulders then and grinned when he found Gwaine, one of the guys from boxing, standing next to him, holding up a phone so he could take a picture. It wasn´t long until Leon, his team mate, appeared in his sights too, greeting Arthur with a smile.

“Have you seen Merlin?” He then asked, voice raised slightly so he´d be heard above all the chatter and laughter.

And then there was Merlin.

He was part of the archery team that otherwise consisted of Arthur and Leon and it would have only made sense for them to walk out into the stadium together. But Merlin was nowhere in sight. Which might have been partly Arthur´s fault.

“I don´t know,” He shrugged his shoulders and at least that wasn´t a lie. Arthur hadn´t seen Merlin ever since he had chosen to get into a different bus earlier this evening when they had been picked up at the Olympic village.

“I´m sure he´s close by.”

Leon nodded and mumbled something about going to find him and Arthur let him shuffle off. Of course he had looked for Merlin, but it seemed as if the other man had made himself invisible which, if Arthur thought about it now, probably wasn’t too hard in a crowd of roughly 350 people.

Merlin had joined the archery team Arthur was training with about two years ago and that was also the exact moment Arthur had fallen in love with him. It had taken him about a year to realize it, and to notice that yes, Merlin was head over heels in love with him too, but they had been happy.

Happy until a few days ago. Merlin had been a little distant, as if there was something he simply wouldn´t want to talk to Arthur about, but Arthur, being as stubborn as he was, had pressed the matter until Merlin had finally snapped.

They had kept their relationship a secret the whole time, simply because they had been in the public eye. Arthur´s father ran one of London´s biggest companies and was therefore on the list of Great Britain´s most influential people. That alone was enough for everyone to know just who Arthur was, but considering that Arthur had made a name for himself when competing in the Olympics 2012, and ending up with a bronze medal, he had been the centre of attention more than ever.

Of course coming out these days wasn´t as damaging for your reputation as it had been a few years ago, but still Arthur hadn´t quite managed to get it all sorted out. It wasn´t as if he was gay anyway, he had fancied boys before, sure, but he had never wanted to be with one until Merlin had come along.

It would have been all over the tabloids and maybe Arthur hadn´t wanted to deal with that. Or with his father´s angry calls, or the looks back at Uni, but it sounded all so incredibly pretentious now. Was him staying comfortable really worth losing Merlin over?

The other man had never made a big deal about his sexuality, but he had agreed to keep their relationship a secret, for Arthur´s sake. Because Arthur was a little sissy who apparently couldn´t take a bit of criticism.  

“You look like you´re attending our father´s funeral instead of the opening ceremony of the biggest sporting event there ever was.”

Morgana´s voice pulled Arthur from his grim thoughts and he almost startled when he noticed that she was right in front of him.

“Bloody hell, Morgana.” Arthur rolled his eyes, arms crossing in front of his chest defensively.

She didn´t even care though, just nodded over her shoulder. “Merlin´s at the front with Gwen.”

Morgana and Gwen were the only people who knew about them. Well, Arthur suspected that Gwen might have told Lance, but he was too polite to ever mention it. Sometimes Arthur got paranoid and thought that the others from their team might have suspected something, but Merlin had always wrapped his arms around him and told him that they would be fine.

Now he wasn´t here to tell Arthur that they would be alright though and that might have been what was so terrifying. That Merlin had been the one who had snapped. That he had just left Arthur standing there, like the idiot he was, and that Arthur had this lingering feeling in his stomach that things weren´t going to be okay.

“Oh come on Arthur.” Morgana moved behind her brother and pushed him into the direction she had just come from. “Don´t be an idiot,”

Of course she was right. He needed to do something, apologize to Merlin, but something was telling him that it wouldn´t be enough. Still, Arthur began to move and wiggled his way through the crowd to where Merlin was standing next to Gwen and Lance, who were taking pictures together and didn´t seem to have noticed that something was off.

Arthur´s stomach was in knots as he wasn´t quite sure what he could do or say to make things right. He loved Merlin, he really did, and yet he had fucked this up royally. Had probably screwed up one of the best things that had ever happened to him, simply because he was scared.

His father had always taught him that a Pendragon knew no fear, because fear could only stand in your way and that wasn’t something one could afford, but it wasn´t as easy as that.

Arthur could feel Merlin tensing up the moment he came to a halt next to him. He understood, obviously, but it still made him feel like shit.

He bit his lip, searching for the right words, as they slowly moved forward with the crowd. Andy had picked up the British flag and Arthur could already see part of the stands that were filled with people cheering.

It wouldn´t be long until they were going to be out there, being cheered on by their fans. Arthur didn’t feel very cheery though. He honestly wanted to hide somewhere and never have to deal with anyone ever again.

The worst thing was that Merlin looked absolutely miserable though. It wasn´t something everyone would notice, he was still smiling when somebody greeted him, he´d still take pictures and smile there too, but Arthur could tell that his heart wasn´t in it.

Of course it wasn´t, because Arthur had ripped it out of Merlin´s chest and stomped right over it.

_Don´t be so dramatic, Arthur._

Morgana´s voice rang in his head and he almost turned around to glare at her, but then thought better of it. Instead he settled in next to Merlin as they now rapidly approached the stadium. Arthur wanted to say something, but words hadn´t exactly helped him with apologizing to Merlin earlier and he assumed that hadn´t changed.

He felt like a complete and utter idiot. He loved Merlin, had for the better part of a year, and Arthur Pendragon usually wasn´t someone to admit his feelings that quickly, or at all. What was he so afraid of anyway? Surely, had they been football players it might have been more difficult to come out, considering how widely common homophobia was with the fans, but archery? Rarely anyone cared about that sport unless it was the Olympics and back at Oxford, where Arthur was going to finish his studies this year, barely anyone would care if he came out, and those who would weren´t his friends anyway.

The tabloids would have a feast, but he had never really cared about what they had written before, so why would he start now?

There was always his father, but honestly, Morgana had done worse things to upset him and even Uther Pendragon had a heart, hidden beneath all his professional behaviour. He´d understand that Arthur was just trying to be happy, right?

“I´m such an idiot…” He mumbled, something that finally drew a reaction from Merlin.

“If you´re expecting me to tell you that you aren’t, then I´m afraid I can´t do that.”

Arthur almost laughed at the other man´s words, simply because he was so relieved that Merlin was actually talking to him.

Their team was being announced over the speakers then and Arthur still didn´t know what to say. Maybe he didn´t need to find words to express what he felt though. With Merlin, despite the other man´s love for babbling the day away, it had never been about words.

Arthur´s lips curled into a smile at that thought and before he could change his mind he slipped his hand into Merlin´s and intertwined their fingers. His heart was racing in his chest and for a moment he felt like he might pass out, but the surprise on Merlin´s face and how his lips curled into a smile that shone brighter than the Olympic flame were all worth it.

“You´re still an idiot, you know?” Merlin then whispered, squeezing Arthur´s hand as they made their way out into the stadium, and for once Arthur was surprisingly okay with being called that.


End file.
